Roberto Benigni

This biography of Roberto Benigni was found under the movies category of newyorktimes.com. Unlike many biographies, this biography does not dwell on Roberto Benigni's life before his career. Rather, it delves into information on his films. Roberto Benigni did not start out as a director, he began his succesful career as a comedic actor. Roberto Benigni is well known for his acting and directing of the famous film Life is Beautiful. "The movie -- which had the potentially ungainly premise of a comedy set in a Nazi concentration camp -- proved to be a huge international success, both critically and commercially. " For more information on this wacky director, click on the link.

Interview of Robert Benigni

The article I am linking to is an interview of Roberto Benigni by Adrian Wootton. Like any interview, Wootton asks Benigni a few questions about his childhood, first performance, other influences in life and so on. The reason I chose this article is because the story of Life is Beautiful parallels Roberto Benigni's life. Benigni "grew up in Tuscany in a very poor family... but [his] childhood was very good... because it was full of gladness and good humanity." The characters in Life is Beautiful are relatively lower class but that does not stop them from enjoying life and being happy for what they have. This interview makes the viewer understand why Benigni makes the types of films that deal with real life issues but with a twist of comedy. Clicking on the link above should take you to the reading.

"It dares to laugh in the face of the unthinkable"

Roberto Bengini's Life is Beautiful has been highly acclaimed; winning Oscars for best foreign film, best picture, and best soundtrack plus many awards all over the globe. Louise Katainen's article from National Forum brings to light some of the controversy behind the film's success. Katainen mentions some of the criticism about the film that 'dares to laugh in the face of the unthinkable.' She goes on to talk about Benigni's influences. He has had "a great deal of pleasure and fulfillment from making people laugh." But does his artistic talents justify his portrayal of the Holocaust?

Life is Beautiful- A comedy?

The article on www.findarticles.com entitled "Nothing to Laugh About-Movie on Holocaust entitled 'Life is Beautiful'" written by Richard Alleva primarily focuses on the issue of why Life is Beautiful should not be a comedy. The author points out the reasons why the Holocaust is not to be something thought of as a joke as it took the lives of many innocent people. His main question is "does it deal with the Holocaust... [and] to be precise, is there a valid depiction of the Holocaust in this film?" Alleva gives many examples of why this topic should not be thought of lightly. He talks about Hitler and all the evil things done by him to explain the fact of how brutal and torturous concentration camps were. This article takes a critical approach to explain why the Holocaust is not accurately shown in Life is Beautiful and why this event in history cannot be taken with ease. Clicking on the title or quote above should take you to the article.